MARK OF JOHN BRIDGE, LONDON, 1827

THE DUKES OF YORK AND CAMBRIDGE'S 'CYDER CUPS'
These beakers were created from a set of four antique silver-gilt 'foreign cyder cups engraved and embellished with friezes of minute figures and landscapes, of old Flemish design…contained in a box of purple morocco, lined with blue velvet' purchased by the Royal Goldsmith John Bridge, of Rundell, Bridge and Rundell at the sale of 'Magnificent Silver and Silver-Gilt Plate of His Royal Highness, The Duke of York, Deceased, Christie's, London, March 19-22, 1827, lot 97'. They were acquired on behalf of the late Duke's brother, Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge. The Duke had John Bridge create six new beakers inspired by the German renaissance example. They display the Regency taste for historicist silver inspired by the Prince Regent, later King George IV and his brothers, a taste that was fostered by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell and Kensington Lewis. The Duke also instructed Rundells to buy a Shield of Achilles, by Philip Rundell, and a pair of Mannerist-style ewers by Farrell in the sale. The Shield and the ewers, and six 1827 beakers, passed to the 2nd Duke, as part of the 1st Duke's vast collection. The Bridge beakers were described as 'copies of old German cups' when they were sold at Christie’s, London, 6 June 1904, lot 86. Four further beakers, also by John Bridge, but of 1828, were sold Sotheby's, New York, 20 November 2022, lot 88. A single example of 1827 was sold at Reeman Dansie, Colchester, 22 November 2011, lot 528.

Three German Renaissance beakers by Eustachius Hohman, Nuremberg, circa 1590, from the Pringsheim Collection, which appear to be identical to this lot, were sold Christie’s, Geneva, November 9, 1976, lot 251. They may be part of the set of 'four foreign cyder cups' listed above. The scenes are taken in part from The Months by Virgil Solis (1514-1562), inspired by the work of Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550). The same scenes appear on a pair of beakers by Gallus Wernlein, Nuremberg, 1592-94, Moscow State Museum, see Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst, 1541-1868, no. 576, p. 933, while similar engraved insects and swags are found on a Satzbecher by Heinrich Mack, Nuremberg, 1612-1626, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, op. cit., no. 579, p. 934.